Update: I got another one of the fake invoices from Orbital this week. This time it was for my Bloomberg Businessweek subscription. It’s nice to know the good folks at Bloomberg so readily sell my contact information. I’m re-posting since the blog is under a new name now and I feel it’s important that someone write about this so that people won’t get duped into overpaying for their renewals.

Another day, another magazine renewal letter that gets my britches in a bunch.

I got a very-bill looking slip in the mail today that someone who doesn’t pay attention might have fallen for. It’s from Orbital Publishing Group in Reno, Nevada. It looks just like an invoice but there is print at the bottom that says NOT A BILL. Can you find those words with just a quick glance? They are hoping that you can’t!They want to charge you $59.95 but you can go to Magazines.com and get a one year renewal for $15. I actually pay less than that each year.

What is especially disheartening is that Entertainment Weekly obviously sold my information either directly or indirectly to this company.

Here is the back of the slip:My favorite part is “As an agent, we do not necessarily have a direct relationship with the publishers or publications that we offer. With your purchase you authorize us and our suppliers to process and clear your order with the publishers directly or by whatever means available.” I think this means that they will pay the $15 (or less) and pocket the $44 difference. That’s quite a profit.

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The blog started way back in June of 2007. It keeps going because I'm too stubborn to stop. In 2013, the Up In This Brain! podcast started. That's a bit more modern than this old thing. I write about whatever jumps into my mind whenever it happens to jump. There's no set schedule. Thanks for stopping by!